**ABSTRACT
NOT FOR CITATION WITHOUT AUTHOR PERMISSION. The title, authors, and
abstract for this completion report are provided below. For a copy
of the full completion report, please contact the author via e-mail at smiehls@usgs.govQuestions? Contact the GLFC via email
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Proof-of-concept test of a differential
pressure system to transport Great Lakes fishes

In many
tributaries of the Laurentian Great Lakes, managers want to selectively pass
desirable species upstream of dams and block invasive and other undesirable
species, but doing so is only possible with trap and transport systems that are
costly and labor intensive. An emergent fish transport technology, Whooshh Fish Transport System (WFTS), can autonomously pass
Pacific salmonid spp. with minimal impact on fish health, using a pressure
differential to create a motive force that acts upon the cross-sectional
surface area of a fish inside closed, flexible tubes. This study examined
whether the WFTS can selectively pass desirable Great Lakes fishes but not the
invasive sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus), which has
a low circumference to length ratio. We found that the WFTS can effectively
transport walleye (Sander vitreus), white sucker (Catostomuscommersonii), rainbow
trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), and northern pike (Esoxlucius), but would not
transport invasive sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus)
as successful transport was dictated by circumference. Furthermore, images of
these fishes were taken using the WFTS imaging/sorting tool and archived such
that they could be used to develop image recognition /
species identification algorithms to sort desirable from undesirable fishes
using the WFTS. The WFTS could become a useful selective fish passage tool in
the Great Lakes if devices to move non-jumping fishes into the WFTS and
algorithms for identifying and sorting Great Lakes fishes within the WFTS are developed.